Aktive Direkt Hilfe e.V.

We distributed 15 wheelchairs, 9 toilet- & shower chairs, 15 pairs of crutches, 16 walking aids, 4 PCs, 5 sewing machines & tools to one old folks home, two handicapped centers, one training center for 300 underprivileged girls and four orphanages. Different medical aid went to a hospital and three boxes of glasses to doctors who will prescribe them properly to needy people.

During the distribution and the many preparations for it we appreciated very much the help of Allain Eloumndene, a former German teacher, presently the personal secretary of the Minister of Social Affaires who invested a lot of time and effort to help us get this complicated and involved project running as smooth as possible. To organize such a distribution in Africa the right way is not an easy task as people have to follow complicated protocols and there are jealous and greedy people who hinder your efforts because you don’t cooperate with their corrupt ways.

In the container we could also bring over a hundred new bibles and many boxes of very helpful educational materials and Christian literature, tracts, books and cassettes which will help a lot of children, schools & interested people in their spiritual growth and personal walk with the Lord.

Our distribution to the pygmies was recorded by a team from the national TV which accompanied us for several days in the bush, and the film was already sent several times at peak hours. Some of us were recognized several times on the street and we are very happy that the work in Cameroon got rolling well. Stephan and Annette with team will carry on the work there with a long term vision, while Lenka and my hearts’ desire since a long time was to open a mission station in Congo. Already 2 years ago from Zambia we wanted to make a trip to check out the possibilities there, but it wasn’t God’s time yet. Now the Lord opened a door for us and I just returned from our first visit there, while Lenka and Mathew are staying there for another month to find further contacts.

Our first impression confirmed as was expected that this country, plagued by many years of terrible civil war, no doubt needs our help more than any of the others we worked in so far. Although at the moment you hear sometimes in the news about it, the people there suffered a lot more than we can imagine already since decades. After the independence from Belgium they had first Mobutu’s dictatorship with two devastating lootings in 1991 & 1993 in Kinshasa which threw the country from being quite rich, especially for African standard, basically over night into great poverty. Since 1998 rages terrible civil war which cost already about 3 million lives, not to mention the many refugees & displaced people who lost everything and the general economical breakdown.

In Kinshasa with about 6 million inhabitants they estimate about 80 % jobless people who fight for survival without any help. In many quarters of the city there is no electricity or running water. Many eat only once a day. Theft & corruption are therefore very high. They estimate between 10 & 15 thousand street children who for different reasons live on the street and are facing like the child soldiers without any schooling a dark future.

In spite – or rather because – of all these problems we feel called to help these precious people. It’s probably the greatest challenge of our lives and we pray that if it’s God will that He will give us a new team with His strength and guidance to build His work there where we would like to stay for a many years. Although poverty is widespread, prices are even higher than in the other African countries we lived in. So we wanted to ask you to help us as much as possible since we can’t operate there without your help from outside. The best would be if you could support us with regular bank transfers as the desperate people there expect more help from us then we experienced anywhere else, which we can understand very well considering their difficult situation.

Although their harbor in Matadi is supposed to be the most expensive in the world, we are planning to send again humanitarian aid there as the need is so incredibly big. Besides the spiritual strengthening & encouragement people need anything we can bring from abroad, finances and goods. Thank you so much for all your help, we really appreciate it a lot!

They live in huts made out of bark, sticks & , big leaves, beds and benches are made out of wood. They live on what they find in the woods and hunt, with simple spears, nets, dogs and a lot of God-given instinct, wisdom & knowledge which we studied people wouldn’t know a thing about. I was told that they can catch a monkey in 5 minutes, which we wouldn’t even find or be able to do even if we shot 50 bullets at it.

They live like nomads and have no formal education, are very friendly, live peacefully with each other and know how to survive where we would starve. Their life would go on as if nothing happened - in fact they wouldn’t even find out - if the world would start World War 3, if we would have another oil-crisis, war in the Mid-East, a worldwide financial crash or if the Anti-Christ would rise to power.

Since greedy people cut down the big trees of the forests, it slowly kills their livelihood & forces them to learn other ways to survive. Some of them are starting to settle near the dirt-roads through the woods, learn to farm a little plot of land and start sending their kids to schools where available. We were told that their kids are more intelligent in general than the villagers around.

Until recently and often still today they are looked down upon - not just for their short statures - as underlings, something between animals and humans. The ones who didn’t settle own no land and are still often considered properties by the villagers around. This means when they hunt something, it might be taken away from them.

They believe deeply in God but hardly know anything about Jesus, and are happy to learn more about Him. Since they can’t read, we talk and give them pictures about His love and care, which they really appreciate.

In the same country, not to talk about the rich nations, live people with up to 8 body guards, several prohibitively expensive cars & mansions as big as a castle. While some people are poor physically, some are poor morally, some spiritually.

This is just one of the many signs Jesus mentioned would happen before His return according to Matthew 24. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Mat. 24:12). You can read the whole Chapter about the other signs like the many famines, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars etc which we have nowadays, and you can see that we live in the time Jesus talked about would come before His return. Until then let’s do all we can to prepare for it, not neglect to feed our souls and help the poor.

Jesus gave us His Law of Love in Math 22: 36-40: “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” If everybody would live like that, it would stop all the wars, hunger, poverty, physical and spiritual pollution, like the madness of many of the modern movies, music, media, with all its violence and demoralization in the endless TV channels etc - if we all would only love Him and our neighbors more and be more happy and content with the simple beauties of life.

As you can see, our contact with the pygmies really spoke to me. Coming out of the woods, back to “civilization”, makes you think about what’s important in life. Let’s remember that we can’t take a penny with us when we leave this world, which we all have to do one day. And the most important things can’t be bought with money: health, happiness, love, life, real friendship, intact families, safety, the future or even today. Only God can give us these gifts.

I think everybody agrees with us that the pygmies surely are the most needy people here. We experienced some of the most intensive and  inspiring days of our lives distributing clothes, shoes, sheets and God’s love to these lovely people. In the next newsletter we will share more about the rest of our distribution. We are very thankful that we finally got the container through customs and could help a lot of people. Of course it’s only “a drop in the bucket”, but many drops make the ocean. We want to thank everybody who helped and made this project possible. It sure was a sign of Gods love to a lot of people who have less than their needs.

First we spent several months in Germany to collect the aid and find sponsorship for this big project. Thank you so much for all your help and support, big and small - every little bit goes a long way here! Thank you all, who brought your goods to our local storages, and especially to our faithful helpers in Herrenberg and Rosenheim who loaded and transported it all to Erfurt. There Daniela and Lisa were an indispensable help with sorting and packing it into literally tons of banana boxes. When we finally had our packing list ready, I returned to Cameroon with Lisa who wanted to come along to experience Africa for the first time in her life. She continues her school with a correspondence course from Germany.

Next, Lenka and I were trying to get in contact with the new Minister of Social Affaires in the Capital, Yaounde, who replaced the former one while we were in Germany. A change like this can happen quickly here and it can take a long time to get such an appointment. When we finally were able to meet the new minister, we were very thankful for her help, because without some local organization or contact like her you can't import anything tax-free into Africa. At the moment we are applying for the desperately needed tax exemption at the Finance Ministry before we can even send the container.

Whoever is not well prepared in this might end up with the same fate as the 11 containers of humanitarian aid which just got sold by customs here. If the papers are not in order while dealing with customs, there come up high storage fees every day at the harbor, which often cannot be paid in the end. That's why a lot of aid ends up where it shouldn't go.

The two most important criteria for us in all this surely are prayer and patience! If you follow the wrong advice and are not properly prepared, everything can go wrong, cost a lot of (bribe-) money or drag on for a long time. That's why you need a lot of patience, time and God's guidance, without which nothing works here. You can't compare understanding of time here with that in Europe. It's like the joke: "When God created to world He gave the Europeans the clock and the Africans the time."

Our next step is to find a proper and safe storage and identify who needs our aid the most, which is an art in itself and also takes time. For although the container is 12 meters long, the need is so much bigger. This means we can only help the most needy people, like the handicapped, old people, lepers, and orphans etc. We are very thankful for your continued support without which this all wouldn't be possible, and for your prayers for the transport, tax exemption and coming distribution.

Besides the humanitarian aid we also continue in our spiritual ministry to strengthen and inspire the many people here who are so open and thankful for this. One of our projects is preparing Christmas programs for the different orphanages and children centers here. The children and staff are very appreciative of any encouragement and love we can give to them. We already had one program for the students of the University in Douala. They really enjoyed the skits and fellowship and so did we.

At the end we'd like to let you know two inspiring announcements: 1. For more information about our work and the "Afrika Direkt Hilfe" team, our faithful bookkeeper, Rudolf in Datteln, set up our own website under www.afrikadirekthilfe.de or www.a-d-h.org 2. For whoever wants more reading material than we send out in our "Vitamins for the Heart" we would like to offer a beautiful monthly Magazine called "Activated" with inspiring, uplifting and informative articles on all kinds of important questions about life and faith. We also have little books and other very helpful reading and reference materials on subjects like prayer, overcoming obstacles, understanding God’s Word, Heaven, Childcare and many others.